Young man goes to jail for the third time after 'order' from man from Thanh Hoa

On May 19, Nghe An Provincial People's Court tried Tran Xuan Huy (born 1981), residing in Vinh Tan Ward, Vinh City, for the crime of illegal drug trafficking.

According to the investigation agency's documents, on the afternoon of February 23, 2020, Huy received a phone call from a man in Thanh Hoa (unknown background and specific address) saying: "Tomorrow I will take my mother to the temple, you get me a drug order". Huy agreed, so the next afternoon he called Cuong (residing in Hung Thinh commune, Hung Nguyen district) to ask to buy drugs.

Cuong replied: "No, if you want, come to Sen market (Nam Dan district) in the afternoon and someone will bring it to you." Cuong also said that if you want to get a stone order, you should prepare 35 million VND. Then, Huy called the man from Thanh Hoa and agreed on a price of 45 million VND. This person agreed and made an appointment to deliver the goods at 3:30 p.m. the same day.

Defendant Tran Xuan Huy. Photo: Tran Vu

Tran Xuan Huy then rented a car and asked a friend to take him to Nam Dan town to buy drugs. At the meeting point, a man on a motorbike gave Huy drugs. At 9 p.m. the same day, Huy drove to the road along Lam River (in Phuc Tho commune, Nghi Loc district) to deliver drugs to the buyer, but was discovered by the police and arrested Huy along with 86.3 grams of drugs. Taking advantage of the moment of carelessness, the drug buyer escaped.

In court, the defendant admitted to the crime. Huy said that because he did not have a stable job, he chose to sell drugs to make a profit.

Previously, in 2004, Huy was sentenced by the People's Court of Vinh City to 24 months in prison for illegal possession of narcotics. In 2015, Huy was sentenced to 26 months in prison for illegal drug trafficking.

Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced Tran Xuan Huy to 18 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking.